Strewth! Aussies join Civilization VI

Australia to join Civilization VI under Second World War leader John Curtin

Never let it be said that Altchar is guilty of cultural elitism. No, much better to let it be stated so. We may, on occasion, have had our liveried flunkies stop our sedan chair in order to listen to the crude music of the common people - but that doesn't mean we like it.

It is with this in mind we bring the news that Australia, lead by its 14th Prime Minister John Curtin, is to be the next civ to join Civilization VI - scheduled for summer 2017.

2KDigger unit - Civilization VI

Right, let's get the Pommy jokes in early shall we? Australia has no culture - it's just Britain with sunshine, scorpions and other assorted nasties.

Yeah, yeah, the Aussies have a certain roguish charm and a way with words, a barbaric jokiness if you will. They may have produced some excellent authors (who all immediately come to London at the first sniff of success); they may have some abilities in the cinematic arts (which considering the amount of light they are used to is no surprise) but a global culture worthy of a place at the Civilization VI table?

I mean, they've only ever made the aborigines truly miserable, a single people, which is fairly pathetic on the historical empire scale.

The ritual insults completed, we turn our attention to the game sense of introducing Australia - and sense there is. Finally, coastal cities are getting some love, with the Aussies enjoying theLand Down Under special ability - and tiles with Charming or Breathtaking appeal will add bonuses to Australian cities' Holy, Campus, Commercial and Theatre Square districts.

The Outback Station is Australia's unique structure, adding food production - and for a country so dependent on its farming skills, it's appropriate that pastures can trigger a culture bomb effect - so you can herd your way to victory!

A unique unit, The Digger, replaces infantry in the mid to later game and gets a bonus fighting next to water tiles - plus one for fighting defensive wars. Curtin himself brings Citadel of Civilization, which provides a boost at the start of a defensive war and when a city is liberated.

Without having played as Australia, we can say that the civ's special abilities seem most likely to lead to a style of gameplay featuring much in the way of expansive provocation.

In addition to the news about a new civ, all Steam players of Civilization VI are about to get an update which will feature Steam Workshop and modding tools, and add multiplayer team functionality.

There's a number of issues we still think need to be fixed with the game, but presumably developers Firaxis have their own timetable and are sticking to it.

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